And the award goes to...

Picture it...  Ohio, early 1980's.  A girl and her Momma, glued to the television watching movie stars walk the red carpet.  We used to watch the Oscars as if it were a runway show during fashion week.  I feigned interest in the actual awards part of the show, but to be perfectly honest I didn't really care who won "Best Picture".  My Mom was letting me stay up past my bedtime and that was award enough for me.

I have friends who host elaborate Oscar parties and I must admit the thought of it has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions, but considering the size of my shoebox apartment it doesn't seem to be an option this year.

However, just because I won't be hosting a gathering doesn't mean I can't make some good party food...

I tried to keep it fairly simple, with options that could be served warm or at room temperature.  These can also be transported fairly easily if you are a guest bringing a little something to the festivities.


Mini twice baked potatoes with creme fraiche & caviar

• 12 baby Yukon potatoes
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
• caviar
• 2 or 3 pieces chives
• a few tablespoons of milk
• 1 tbsp. butter
• salt & pepper
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut potatoes in half (or if very small, just trim the top off) and then cut a small piece off the bottom so the potato will sit level on a plate.
3. Using a small melon baller or a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon,  scoop out the potato.
4. Toss the cut potatoes in a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt & pepper and roast for about 20 - 25 minutes until a knife can easily pierce them.
5. While the potatoes are roasting, use the scooped out bits of potato to make mashed potato with a few tablespoons of milk and the butter.  Season with salt & pepper.
6. When roasted potatoes are done and cooled, fill with mashed potato, top with creme fraiche, a piece of chive and caviar.

  

Mini Quiche

• 24 mini shells, blind baked
• 1/2 cup quiche filling (bacon, onion, spinach, mushrooms, etc.)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• pinch freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Make quiche custard by whisking together milk, cream, eggs, salt & pepper
3. Fill quiche shells with cheese and vegetables or bacon (whatever you've chosen to use)
4. Pour custard into shells and bake for approximately 12 - 15 minutes.

*You will have custard left over.  As quiche is baking, the filling will settle and you may have to top off the quiche with a little more custard about halfway through.

Quiche Suggestions:

1. Lorraine: caramelized onion, bacon & swiss
2. spinach & goat cheese
3. mushrooms & manchego
4. smoked salmon, cream cheese & chives
5. red pepper & goat cheese
6. caramelized onions & gruyere
7. broccoli & cheddar
8. asparagus & truffled pecorino

Soup's On!

While the cooler temperatures are not my cup of tea, the food that comes with them is.  I love soups, stews, braises, roasted dinners, etc.
It is comforting, stick to your ribs kind of food and when the weather is chilly that's exactly what I want.  Gone are the days of salad for dinner...

One of the benefits of  this type of cooking is that you have leftovers.  This for me is key because along with this time of the year comes my hectic work schedule and being able to come home and heat something up instead of trying to figure out what I'm going to cook is a life-saver.

This particular meal comes together in no time at all as long as all of your prep is done ahead of time.
When I have a few extra minutes, I make sure all of my ingredients are ready to go so that the actual cooking part is a snap.  This is perfect for a weeknight meal when energy is not in abundance.

This recipe uses leeks and if you have never worked with them before, this is how to handle them:
- use only the white and light green parts
- split in half lengthwise and rinse VERY well, there is sand between the layers that needs to be removed.


Potato Corn Chowder with Leeks & Bacon

• 1 cup bacon, cooked and diced (reserve 1 tbsp bacon fat)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 4 cups diced leeks
• 32 oz chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 5 small yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 cups corn
• 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 1 1/2 cups milk *

1. Heat the bacon fat and butter in a stock pot and add leeks.  Cook until soft.  Like onions, leeks will cook down quite a bit. 
2. Add flour to make a roux.  Let this cook out for a few minutes until it starts to turn a golden blond color.
3. Add chicken stock and water, whisk to combine.
4. Add potatoes, corn, garlic and pepper.
5. Simmer for about 20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through, remove garlic clove.
6. Add bacon and simmer an additional 5 - 10 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and add milk.  *if you are a size 6 or less, please substitute heavy cream for milk.  
8. Garnish with fresh herbs.

...Eating Her Curds & Whey

What exactly is poutine you might ask...   besides ridiculously good and wrong on so many levels,  poutine is a Canadian dish consisting of 3 ingredients: french fries topped with cheese curds & smothered in gravy. The tell tale sign of good cheese curds:  they squeak when you bite them and squeak these did!  You can imagine my skepticism, being a Midwesterner (and half Canadian) of finding good cheese curds in Brooklyn of all places.  As those of you familiar with it know, the East coast isn't exactly "poutine" country.   I was happily surprised...  let the gluttony commence.

What may be a new discovery for some,  the rest of us have known for awhile.  Poutine is delicious, but here's the thing...  you shouldn't exactly make it a habit,  unless of course a diet of cholesterol & high-blood pressure medications are what you are aiming for.

I know that not everyone's world revolves around food like mine does, but I know that I am not alone in certain memories being linked to food.  I remember the first time I ever had french fries with gravy on them.  I was in Newfoundland with my younger cousin (Nancy) and we were sitting in a red vinyl- covered booth  in a little diner in the mall.  I remember thinking "this is FANTASTIC,  why don't we ALWAYS put gravy on fries?" (I have ever since...) Now, add fresh cheese curds to that & we are in business!

Last weekend,  I happened to be perusing one of my food magazines and there it was:  a mention for a restaurant in Brooklyn serving poutine.  You can imagine my next thought (go there immediately), so we did.  The smell of french fries lingered in the air,  beckoning us over the threshold into full-on bliss.  I was hoping I wouldn't be disappointed and I wasn't.  The poutine delivered, in a big way.  It was delicious.

While sitting there eating my curds and fries I stopped and just started to laugh.  I looked at where we were sitting and thought "Deja Vu".   We were sitting in a red vinyl booth...

Viva Espana!

I love Spain.  I love almost everything about it.  The energy, the food, the language, flamenco, the art, architecture, the history, the culture, the TAPAS, etc...  I have had a near obsession with all things Spanish for a very long time.  The first time I set foot on Spanish soil,  it almost seemed like I was home.  I know that is an odd statement,  but it is honestly how I felt.  It was as if I belonged there.  From that moment on,  it has been a long-distance love affair.  Spain is where I truly fell in love with food.

I remember vividly the first time I had tapas.  I was at an outdoor restaurant/tapas bar called Qu-Qu in Barcelona next to one of the main roads.  I still have a paper-wrapped toothpick from there that I keep in my jewelry box.  It's been 12 or 13 years since that first trip and it left an impression on my soul that I still feel today.  I had never tasted anything like the food I had on that trip and it resonated with me in a way I had never experienced before.  The food was completely foreign to a Midwestern girl from a small town, but reading the menu and ordering things I had never seen or tasted before was exhilarating to me.  I almost felt like I had never really tasted food before.  I remember exactly what I had that day.

• Patatas Bravas
• Croquetas de jamon
• Mahon & Manchego cheeses
• Jamon Iberico
• Tortilla Espanola

(I can't figure out how to add the proper accents/tildes here, sorry!)

How many meals in your life can you remember every single detail?  I remember the weather,  where I sat, what the restaurant looked like from where I was sitting, the sounds of the traffic outside, etc.  This is worth noting because I don't always have the best memory...

Having tapas in Spain is a social event.  It starts anywhere from 8:00 to 10:00 at night. People have a drink of some sort and a small snack (tapa), move on to another place and do the same thing. Repeat a few more times before finally having dinner anywhere from 10:00 to sometimes as late as midnight.  Tapas are basically appetizers or "little bites".  They can be anything from a dish of olives to razor clams or chorizo.  The list of tapas is quite literally endless.  That is part of the excitement of it.  Every region of Spain is so unique and the food is representative of that particular place. Most tapas are accompanied by a glass of wine, but sherry, cava (sparkling wine) or beer are also common.

There are a few regions of Spain that have their own language and culture apart from their national one and some of the regions of Spain are as different from each other as could possibly be.  Spain was occupied by the Moors for almost 800 years until Ferdinand and Isabella took the throne and drove the Moors out in 1492. (does this year sound familiar?...)  This occupation had an everlasting impact on Spain and it's culture.  The history of this peninsula is fascinating (to a nerd like me) and while I could drone on for hours about it,  this is a food blog...  so back to the topic at hand.

There is a food market in Barcelona called La Boqueria.  It has everything anyone could ever imagine under one roof.  Barcelona is located on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea and thus La Boqueria was swimming! with seafood.  I saw things that I had NO idea what they were, but was completely mesmerized by. 

That first trip to Spain was an experience that I will never forget.  Although I haven't been able to go back for some time now, I carry the memories of Espana with me in my heart right where they belong.
There is a fountain in Barcelona at the beginning of Las Ramblas and it is said that if you drink from that fountain,  you will always return to that place. 

Looking back on that first trip and realizing THAT is where it all started makes me love Spain even more...

I am making the quintessential tapa:  Tortilla Espanola.  There are few ingredients, but the simplicity is part of what makes it so delicious.  This can be eaten warm or at room temp, which is how I prefer it, and it can be made ahead and kept for a couple of days.

Tortilla Espanola

• 2 potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8" thick
• 1 spanish onion, halved and sliced thinly
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup olive oil, preferably Spanish (Arbequina is my favorite)
• salt & pepper

- Do not be alarmed by the amount of oil,  you won't be consuming all of that...

1. Heat the olive oil in an 8 or 9 inch saute pan and carefully slide in the potatoes one at a time so they don't stick to each other.
2. Next, add the onions.  Let these cook for a few minutes until they are soft.  Basically you are boiling the potatoes and onions in the oil.
3. Remove them and let them drain.  Pour the olive oil out, reserving about 3 tablespoons. (Save the oil for future use,  it is perfumed with the onions and potato you just cooked)
4. Beat the eggs and set aside. (remember to season as you go...)
5. If there are some bits stuck to the bottom of your pan, wipe it out and then heat it back up before adding the 3 tablespoons of oil back in.
6. When the oil is hot, pour in the eggs and put the potato and onion mixture in.  Press down with the back of your spatula so the egg gets in between the layers.  This will be the glue holding everything together.
7. Once it is browned underneath, you have to flip it over and brown the other side.  When the eggs are mostly set, place a plate of the same size on top of the pan.  In one smooth motion, flip the tortilla out onto the plate.  Then, slide it back into the pan to brown the other side.  This sounds much trickier than it actually is...  just do it with confidence,  no fear!

   8.  Let the tortilla cook a few more minutes until
        you can see that it is completely cooked through.
   9.  Remove from heat and let it rest in the pan
        a few minutes. I find it much easier to cut
        when it has cooled a bit.
  10. Take your golden brown masterpiece out of the pan,
        cut into wedges and EAT!

*leftover tortilla espanola is delicious on a nice baguette with a touch of mayo...  just fyi.

delicioso!